Puget Sound Section Senior Chemists Committee wins a ChemLuminary Award at the 2022 Chicago ACS Meeting
The ACS PSS Senior Chemists Committee (SCC) received a ChemLuminary Award at the August 2022 Chicago ACS Meeting. Individuals involved in the organizing the event included Despina Strong (PSS SCC Chair), Arlene Garrison (ACS SCC Chair), Warren Ford, (ACS SCC Member, Portland Section), Gerry Meyer, (ACS SCC Member, Wyoming Section). A description of their award-winning event follows.
The Local Section Senior Chemists Committee organized a virtual Senior Committee Breakfast during NORM 2021, an all-virtual Regional Meeting. The “Breakfast” was well attended by members of the ACS presidential succession, ACS Board Members, the national SCC Chair, national SCC committee members as well as members from the region and from across the country.
The participants enjoyed a diverse program. They received an update from the national chair, heard a technical talk from a local professor, listened to long term members and SCC members from the region talk about their experience as a volunteer, and participated in a fun chemistry quiz administered by one of the section’s local members.
The activity was successful because of the participation of multiple volunteers. One of the local section SCC members created the flyer. Another member of the local section SCC volunteered to create a quiz and administer the quiz as part of the program. Two members from the national SCC volunteered to be on a panel. The ACS liaison to the SCC helped us promote the event nationally.
The SCC Breakfast is a popular program at the national level. With the Regional Meeting being remote, the local section SCC wanted to create an event that would be interactive and fun. Instead of one keynote speaker, the 90-minute event featured the Chair of the National SCC, a talk by a local area university professor, a brief panel discussion with two long-term members from the national SCC who reside in the NOR region plus the interactive quiz. The quiz generated a lot of fun and interest during and after the meeting. The event helped to connect our local members with members of the national SCC in the region and with the national leader of SCC and ACS colleagues from across the country.